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Céline Dion

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Near, far, wherever you are, I believe that the heart does go on, Once more you open the door, And you're here in my heart and my heart will go on and on.

"My Heart Will Go On"

Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born March 30, 1968) is one of the most popular Canadian singers of all time. Born in Quebec, the Canadian province whose majority of populace speak Frenchnote Canadian French, that is. It has evolved in a different direction compared to European French since it stopped being a French colony.. Thus, she spent her early years speaking and singing French. Met her future husband, music manager René Angélil in 1981, who remained her manager ever since (although he officially stepped down as his health deteriorated). Started singing English in the late 1980s and released her first English album in 1990, but until present day she still sings in both French and English and has recorded in several other languages, including Spanish and even Japanese. Married René in 1994 and lived happily together along with three sons despite the two's age difference until René passing due to throat cancer on January 14, 2016, 21 years into their marriage.

Her first American hit song was "Where Does My Heart Beat Now?" and she attracted even more attention through her Oscar- and Grammy-winning theme song to Disney's 1991 Beauty and the Beast, but it was a pair of movie themes later in the '90s that made her a true household name: "Because You Loved Me" (from Up Close and Personal) and "My Heart Will Go On" (Titanic (1997)).

Adorkable: Young Céline in the early years of her career in Quebec. In a CBC interview from 1983, the then-15-year-old can be seen nervously giggling her way through the first sentence she ever spoke in English in an interview (she was not fluent in the language at the time). Her 1987 album Incognito was a deliberate attempt to leave that behind by recasting the then-19-year-old as a sophisticated, sexy young woman, both in her image and in the subject matter of her songs.

All Just a Dream: Her first single Ce n'etait qu'un reve actually translates into this. The song was co-written by her mother.

Award-Bait Song: It started with Beauty and the Beast, and she went on to sing a few more, winning some Grammys (such as "Because You Loved Me") and Oscars ("My Heart Will Go On") along the way. Parodied with "Ashes" in Deadpool 2.

Like her contemporaries Michael Bolton and Barbra Streisand, Dion is frequently the target of jokes, both in Canada and the U.S., as an example of providing "terrible" music, due mostly for her propensity for ballads and the ubiquity of hits such as "My Heart Will Go On".

One example came in the Criminal Minds episode "Memoriam", where the team was investigating Reid's father. When they received his background check, JJ noted, "aside from purchasing Celine Dion tickets, (he's done) nothing questionable."

An episode of Supernatural reveals that Fallen Angel Balthazar went back in time and prevented the Titanic from sinking simply because of just how much he hated James Cameron's movie and Dion's song.

FoxTrot has used her as a Butt Monkey on a few occasions. In one strip, Jason posts on the Internet a false rumor that the new Star Wars movie will include a Celine Dion ballad over the opening credits in surround sound, his aim being to keep fans out of the theaters to increase his own chances of buying a ticket on opening day. In another, Jason remarks about Celine's parent record company, Sony Music Entertainment, foisting malware on anyone who tries to play the company's CDs in a computer in an anti-piracy measure.

Jason: Makes you feel sorry for people who bought the new Celine Dion album. ... Almost.

Peter: I was just about to say.

Averted with Dion's French-language albums, which generally receive more favourable critical notice due to their more diverse mix of styles. Dion's reputation in Quebec is more that of a general pop singer than of specifically adult contemporary ballads, as her French albums have included more material in dance and even rock styles. Her English debut, Unison, has similar stylistic diversity, which would largely be left by the wayside as subsequent English albums placed her firmly in the AC ballad box.

Covered Up: Some of her covers outfamed the originals, such as The Power Of Love (from Jennifer Rush and a chart hit for several others, including Laura Branigan, prior to Dion's version), It's All Coming Back to Me Now (Pandora's Box), All By Myself (Eric Carmen), Unison (British R&B singer Junior), and If You Asked Me To (Patti La Belle). So much so, that many people tend to mistakenly attribute those songs to having been originally sung by her.

Translated Cover Version: Her early French songs exhibit several French-translated English songs, and some of her English albums contain songs that are translated from French songs, some hers, some others'. She has also occasionally sung in other languages such as Japanese, Spanish, and even Chinese.

One particularly interesting case is the song "Have a Heart" on Dion's first English-language album, Unison. The song was originally written in English and was one of the first songs she learned while preparing for her English-language debut, but the first time Dion recorded it, it was in French on her 1987 album Incognito as "Partout je te vois" ("I See You Everywhere").

CBS' original plans to have Dion's English-language debut be a track-by-track remake of Incognito with new English lyrics were scrapped after Dion got rave reviews for her performance of "Have a Heart" at the 1989 Juno Awards and a buzz began building around the young chanteuse. As a result, CBS increased the budget for the album, and "Have a Heart"/"Partout je te vois" ended up being the only song Unison and Incognito had in common (and even that song was completely re-recorded rather than reusing the instrumental track from Incognito as had been the original plan).

Deliberately Monochrome: Some of her older videos were shot this way, such as All by Myself, Je Sais Pas and Water from the Moon. Even some of her album covers are also monochromes, such as D'eux, D'Elles, Unison, Loved Me Back To Life.

Domestic Abuse: Her song, "This Time", is about being a victim of domestic abuse, as well as a resolve to get out.

The last thread has come undone To reveal what I've become Another victim of poisoned love.

Fairytale Wedding Dress: Her wedding dress, aside from being beautiful as expected from wedding dresses, came with a fancy crown and mink coat.

The Four Loves: Especially in her French discography, though aside from romantic love, she generally only dabbles in family love.

Gratuitous English: Her 1987 French-Canadian hit, "Lolita (Trop jeune pour aimer)" ("Too Young for Love"), includes the English phrase "I love you" a number of times, especially at the end of the song. Mind you, her English-language debut album was still three years away.

Incredibly Long Note: Very common. Listen to "If You Asked Me To", "The Power Of Love", "All By Myself" and "My Heart Will Go On" for some examples.

Language Barrier: Super-producer David Foster recalled that when he first met Dion, he used the phrase "bitchin'," and Dion, who had just recently become fluent in English, was insulted, thinking he was calling her a "bitch."

May–December Romance: René Angélil was 26 years older than Celine. They first met when she was 12 and their relationship (officially) began 7 years later. It was another 7 years before they were actually married.

Medal of Dishonor: In 1990, she won "Best English Speaking Artist" in Felix Award (the Quebec Grammys). She rejected the award - on live television - because, despite the pride she felt in her English-language recordings, she felt she has always been a French-speaking artist, not English. Instead, she suggested that the award's name be changed into "Quebec Artist Achieving Most Success in A Language Other Than French".

Named After Somebody Famous: Céline herself is named after the song Céline by Hugues Aufray. Her first son, René Charles Dion Angélil, is a bit complicated case of this, as the name Charles was actually taken from her grandfather. Her younger twin sons are more straightforward: Eddy (after Eddy Marnay, Francophone songwriter who collaborated with her early in her career) and Nelson (after Nelson Mandela, South Africa's most famous president).

Nun Too Holy: One of her old French song, La Religieuse (The Nun) has shades of this, with the eponymous nun having had some romantic affairs in the past.

Power Ballad: Most of her discography in the 1990s (at least in English). She became more or less the most prominent power ballad performing after the reigning king of the genre (Michael Bolton) declined in popularity by the middle of that decade. Coincidentally, the first time she toured the United States in 1991 was as Michael Bolton's opening act.

Power Hair: Her hairdo during the early 90s. Incidentally, this is also when she started rising to power in music industry.

Pretty in Mink: Her wedding dress came with a white mink jacket as her wedding was held in winter.

Wore a white fox wrap (and probably nothing else other than Jewelry) for a magazine shoot; See the page picture.

Scare Chord: During the intro of It's All Coming Back To Me Now. The music video utilizes this to represent the exact moment her love interest was killed.

Satellite Character: Her entire family is famous in Quebec mostly because of her. Her mom, known has Thérèse Dion, aka Maman Dion (Mommy Dion) had her own cooking show. Her old sister, Claudette Dion, is also a singer, though she remained strictly local and target a older audience. Her siblings as a whole produced a few albums, mostly under the name "La Famille Dion" (The Dion Family). And when her father, Adhemar Dion, passed away, it was all over the news, while her husband's death and funeral became a national affair.

Her manager and husband, René Angelil can also be considered as such. He was originally a singer as a member of the Quebec pop-rock group Les Barronnets (a Beatles knock-off who, like most group of that kind in Quebec at the time, sung mostly French covers of English-language song), but she's the main reason he made it so big.

Of course, he now has his own satellite characters - in Quebec, if an artist gets picked up by René Angelil, you know he or she is gonna be a big star, at least in the French-speaking world. He recently made a cameo as an Mafia Godfather in a recent movie Omertà- every Quebec critics said it was perfect casting as soon as it was announced.

Self-Deprecation: She's really good at taking a joke. When SNL was doing their parodies of her in the wake of the success of Titanic (1997), she found it absolutely hilarious and even invited Ana Gasteyer to do her impression of her at one of her concerts.

Singing Voice Dissonance: She sings in French with only the barest Québecois accent. When she speaks however, her accent's so thick, a common joke is that even the people of Québec have trouble understanding what she says.

Truck Driver's Gear Change: The number of songs she has sung without this probably doesn't reach double digit. In fact, she's been doing gear change ever since her first single C'est n'etait qu'un reve.

Tsundere: Her duet with Luciano Pavarotti, "I Hate You Then I Love You", is the more obvious example. It's in the title!

Vocal Evolution: Most noticeable in her 80s French albums, from her first album that was released when she was just 13, to her late-80s albums just before she went English. After that her voice still underwent changes, but not as drastic.

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